Fullerton overcomes slow start; advances to State Finals with win over San Bernardino Valley

3C2A Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Central

WALNUT -- It will be #1 vs. #1

Fullerton, the south's #1 seed, advanced to the 3C2A State Championship finals after beating San Bernardino Valley, the south's #3 seed, 83-76, at Mt. San Antonio. This will be the third time Fullerton and San Francisco City has meet up in the final, first doing it in 2019 and then again in 2023. San Francisco City coach Justin Labagh is 0-2 all-time against Fullerton head coach Perry Webster in state championship games.

In 2023, Fullerton beat San Francisco City, 83-73, at West Hills-Lemoore. That championship was Webster's second. The two storied programs first meet in a final in 2019 at Ventura, where again the Hornets caged the Rams, 85-79.

The two will meet at Mt. San Antonio, at 1 pm, followed by the women's championship game between Mt. San Antonio and Orange Coast at 3:30 pm.

Fullerton will be making its 10th state championship final; its fourth under Webster. The Hornets have won five of its previous nine trips to the finals as a program. Meanwhile, San Francisco will be making its 13th final appearance, the most by any program in the state men's basketball history. The Rams have won five titles overall; four under Labagh.

Labagh has a chance to break his championship title tie with legendary Naismith Hall of Fame coach Jerry Tarkanian. Each coach has won four state titles. CCSF's 13 state championship appearances are the most amongst the 100 college-playing programs.

Ventura is the only other program with 10 or more appearances, with 11. Fullerton will be trying to win its second state championship in the last three years and third in the last five under Webster. Labagh and Webster are part of a small group of coaches who have won multiple state championships. There are only 14 coaches who have won multiple state men's basketball titles. 

San Francisco (30-1), the north's #1 seed, takes a 16-game win streak into the finals. Fullerton (30-3), meanwhile, carries a 12-game win streak into the last game of the season. The two programs are the only teams to amass 30 wins this season. The programs have dominated the men's basketball landscape the last several years. Between the two teams, they have won five of the last seven championships and one of the two have played in eight of the last seven championship games.

2016 - CC San Francisco (32-1) Justin Labagh 68-57 vs. Saddleback (31-2) at Las Positas
2017 - San Diego City (31-5) Mitch Charlens 53-31 vs. Fullerton (26-7) at Las Positas
2018 - CC San Francisco (33-1) Justin Labagh 82-72 vs. San Diego City (33-3) at Ventura
2019 - Fullerton (30-3) Perry Webster 85-79 vs. CC San Francisco (31-2) at Ventura
2020 & 2021 NO TOURNAMENT (COVID)
2022 - CC San Francisco (32-1) Justin Labagh 91-66 vs. West Valley (28-4) at West Hills-Lemoore
2023 - Fullerton (32-1) Perry Webster 83-73 vs. CC San Francisco (29-4) at West Hills-Lemoore
2024 - West Valley (33-0) Danny Yoshikawa 59-51 vs. Sequoias (27-6) at Mt. San Antonio

"When I took on this program, I knew San Francisco City was the class program in the sate," Webster said. "And, I wanted to get the Fullerton program to their level, and I wanted to be able to play them in these types of games. Any time we get a chance to dance with them is an exciting time."

Fullerton fell behind 9-0 to start the game, but outscored the Wolverines, 38-30, over the remainder of the half. At one point, Fullerton led by as many as 17 points. Down 12 with 1:15 left, San Bernardino Valley outscored the Hornets, 13-1, to get within 38-30 at halftime. San Bernardino was held to 38 percent shooting and turned the ball over nine times in the first half. The Wolverines made just 2 of 9 three pointers. Fullerton was 14 of 27 from the floor (51.9 percent), making 3 of 10 three pointers.

In the second half, Fullerton extended its lead to 17 points at 50-33 with 15:45 left. But SBVC caught fire, cutting the Hornets' lead to 56-49 with over 11 minutes to go and then got within seven points at 58-51. But Fullerton, which beat Cosumnes River by 15 points in its quarterfinal game on Thursday, rebuilt its lead to 66-51. With 5:44 left, San Bernardino got within niner at 66-57 on a Jason Hillard layup, but a 6-2 run by Fullerton rebuild the Hornets' lead to 72-59 with 3:31 left. The Wolverines, however, fought to the bitter end. A three-pointer by Khemanni Davis sliced Fullerton's led to 76-66 with 1:37 left.

Fullerton continued to fight off the Wolverines down the stretch. San Bernardino whittled it to eight, 77-69, with 1:08 left and within six at 79-37 with 16.3 seconds remaining. With 3.6 left, Shadale Knight hit a three pointer to get SBVC within five, but it would be as close as it would get.

Fullerton had four players score in double figures, led by Darvelle Wyatt who had 22 points.

"Darvelle was really good tonight handling the ball, rebounding the ball and scoring the ball," Webster said. "I think overall it was his best game as a Hornet. He has a lot experience in big games and I knew he would step up. And then Addy B'Bye was really good tonight, guading and scoring. Both were all-league players and I think showed you why tonight."

B'Bye and Joe Grahovac each had 14 points apiece and Kaira Shepard added 10. San Bernardino Valley also had four players score in double figures, led by Knight, who led all scorers with 22. Hillard added 15, with Daris Carr and Davis, adding 14 and 11, respectively. San Bernardino mustered 24 more shots than Fullerton, but couldn't capitalize, finishing with a 31 percent shooting (26 of 77) night from the field, and 19 percent from the three-point line (6 of 31). Fullerton finished 26 of 53 (49 percent) from the field, but just 26 percent from the three-point line (5 of 19).

"San Bernardino is very athletic," Webster said. "They can score the ball in many different ways. I thought we had really good discpline and defended the way were are capbale of playing. We had played them earlier in the year (a 73-69 win on November 20 at San Bernardino). We knew they would be athletic and that it would be a frantic contest."

The loss stopped San Bernardino Valley head coach Quincy Brewer from making his first ever state championship appearance. He has led the Wolverines to three consecutive Final Eight appearances, losiing the previous appearances in the quarterfinals. San Bernardino concludes the season at 27-6.

(Robert Schmidt, CCCMBCA)